Swimming: Kabuye shines at Seals Meet

KAMPALA. The boys 15 and over 200m breaststroke at the second round of the Seals League Meet held at Kampala Parents School, Naguru on Saturday, was as interesting as they come.

It was the epitome of swimmers giving their all to win a race. Tendo Mukalazi, led for the first 50m as he and Dolphins teammate Adnan Kabuye depended on their underwater skills to keep Kampala Aquatics’ Patrick Rukundo in check.

The next 100 metres saw the three swimmers switch leads but Kabuye managed to summon a better final 50m to anchor at 2:44.56 while Rukundo came home at 2:48.07. Mukalazi was third with 2:50. 24.

Kabuye continued with the dominance, beating his colleagues in all freestyle events (400m, 100m and 50m) on show. He came third (29.27) behind Eloi Imaniraguha (28.53) and Mukalazi (29.21) in the 50 fly.

Overall the 15 and over age group is headed in the right direction. That it is now attracting an average of 20 swimmers per event, far from five to 10 in the past, is a good place to start.However, the majority of late developers – most from upcoming clubs – that swim in this age group have to improve on technique.

For now, Uganda’s bedrock is in the 13-14 years age group where Kirabo Namutebi and Selina Katumba were dominant for the girls while Ben Kaganda and Darren Ssamula proved to be in their own league among the boys.The second round of the league attracted over 290 swimmers, a sign of growing number in the sport.